Residents of the Market House condominium building in St. Paul's Lowertown will be able to use their parking lot, even after preliminary work begins nearby on the city's new regional ballpark.

A St. Paul City Council decision Wednesday, Feb. 6, allows the residents to continue to use the 55-stall lot across the street from their property at 289 E. Fifth St. until May 31.

Condemnation documents in Ramsey County District Court previously had listed Feb. 28 as the date the city would lay claim to the lot, which borders the old Gillette-Diamond Products building. The site is slated to be torn down and developed into a 7,000-seat ballpark by 2015.

Market House residents and St. Paul are working out a price for the lot in court, but some residents have said that even several thousand dollars will allow them to lease space in the neighborhood for only so long. The condo association bought the lot from the city for $175,000 -- about $3,200 per stall -- in 2006.

Pointing to the difficulty of finding parking during special events such as the recent Beer Dabbler in Lowertown, city council member Dave Thune told the council that the issue should never have progressed to condemnation proceedings. He said the city should build residents a new ramp or buy them a lot of similar size.

"It's absolutely wrong," Thune said. "That's just not right. I really hope they win, because they need replacement parking, not a few hundred thousand dollars.